Gaming Purchases - December 2015

December 8th:

First some bad news, my old original Xbox died last night after many many years of loyal service. I had to open it up to manually get my game out of the disc tray. It doesn't even light up the red or orange warning ring of light so it seems to be pretty bad. The now empty space under my TV is a depressing sight to behold to say the very least.

I still have some games planned to order that I never got around to ordering last month but already I've got some new gaming realted purchases done. I was out doing some gift shopping for the upcoming holiday and made a quick visit to the local GameStop. Didn't look around too much but I did find something I wanted, a couple of Xbox 360 memory cards. These little things were rare enough to find back in the day when they were still manufactured and nowadays even rarer as they pretty much only exist on the second hand market so I was more than happy to add them to my collection.


UPDATE 1 - December 22nd:

Ordered the games I planned back in November (and some additional stuff) on the 17th, all orders arrived on the 22nd.

Game Boy:
Game Boy Camera (blue)

Game Boy Advance:
Asterix & Obelix XXL (cartridge only)
LEGO Drome Racers (cartridge only)

Mega Drive:
Ballz 3D The Battle Of The Balls
Eternal Champions

Saturn:
Cyber Troopers - Virtual On

PlayStation:
Warzone 2100

Xbox:
Crimson Skies - The High Road To Revenge

Xbox 360:
Race PRO (new, sealed)

PC:
Virtua Fighter 2 (new, sealed)

Collectibles:
Maximo mini figures collection - Queen Sophia (new, sealed)

Music CD:
2 Unlimited II 1998 (new, sealed)
Tuning Hitz 7 2009 (new, sealed)

Music DVD:
Liquid Grooves - Tasty and Fresh Club Music 1 (new, sealed)
Skyclub - Finest Lounge and Club Sounds 1 (new, sealed)

Anime DVD:
Argai - The Prophecy Vol. 2 (new, sealed)
Argai - The Prophecy Vol. 3 (new, sealed)
Argai - The Prophecy Vol. 4 (new, sealed)
Argai - The Prophecy Vol. 5 (new, sealed)
Argai - The Prophecy Vol. 6 (new, sealed)
Argai - The Prophecy Vol. 7 (new, sealed)
Argai - The Prophecy Vol. 8 (new, sealed)
Bakugan - Gundalian Invaders Vol. 1 (new, sealed)
Balatack Vol. 2 (new, sealed)
Beautiful Dreamer (new, sealed)
Blood - The Last Vampire (new, sealed)
Darkside Blues (new, sealed)
Dead Leaves (new, sealed)
Dobutsu Takarajima (Animal Treasure Island) (new, sealed)
Final Fantasy Unlimited Vol. 2 (new, sealed)
Final Fantasy Unlimited Vol. 6 (new, sealed)
Full Metal Panic! Vol. 1 (new, sealed)
Full Metal Panic! Vol. 2 (new, sealed)
Full Metal Panic! Vol. 6 (new, sealed)
Genshi Shonen Ryu (Ryu The Primitive Boy) Vol. 1 (new, sealed)
Genshi Shonen Ryu (Ryu The Primitive Boy) Vol. 2 (new, sealed)
Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex Vol. 4 (new, sealed)
Helen Keller (new, sealed)
Kai Doh Maru (new, sealed)
Ken - The Great Bearfist (new, sealed)
Kimagure - Orange Road Vol. 2 (new, sealed)
Kimagure - Orange Road Vol. 3 (new, sealed)
Kimagure - Orange Road Vol. 4 (new, sealed)
Leda - The Fantastic Adventures of Yoko (new, sealed)
My Neighbors The Yamadas (new, sealed)
Nadia - The Secret of Blue Water (new, sealed)
Nagagutsu Sanjushi (The Wonderful World of Puss 'n Boots - Return of Pero) (new, sealed)
Neon Genesis Evangelion Vol. 2 (new, sealed)
Neon Genesis Evangelion Vol. 6 (new, sealed)
Requiem From The Darkness Vol. 1 (new, sealed)
Requiem From The Darkness Vol. 2 (new, sealed)
Requiem From The Darkness Vol. 3 (new, sealed)
Requiem From The Darkness Vol. 4 (new, sealed)
Samurai Champloo Vol. 2 (new, sealed)
Samurai Champloo Vol. 3 (new, sealed)
Samurai Champloo Vol. 4 (new, sealed)
Samurai Champloo Vol. 5 (new, sealed)
Samurai Champloo Vol. 6 (new, sealed)
Samurai Champloo Vol. 7 (new, sealed)
Sandybell Vol. 1 (new, sealed)
Sandybell Vol. 2 (new, sealed)
Sandybell Vol. 3 (new, sealed)
Sandybell Vol. 4 (new, sealed)
Sandybell Vol. 5 (new, sealed)
Sandybell Vol. 6 (new, sealed)
Sandybell Vol. 7 (new, sealed)
Sandybell Vol. 8 (new, sealed)
Sandybell Vol. 9 (new, sealed)
Silverfang - The Complete Series (new, sealed)
Space Adventure Cobra - The Complete Series (new, sealed)
Submarine 707 Revolution (new, sealed)
Orguss 02 - Super Dimension Century Orguss Two (new, sealed)
Tenchi Muyo! Vol. 1 (new, sealed)
Tenchi Muyo! Vol. 2 (new, sealed)
Gisaku - The Demon Hunter (new, sealed)
Yatterman (Yattaman) (2009 live action movie adaptation) (new, sealed)

Now Playing - December 2015

Been focusing mostly on the new games I got at the end of last month so far.

Gift (PlayStation 2)
An obscure classic that was hyped for the impressive lighting and shadows back in the day. I was looking forward to it but sadly never got hold of it, at best I got to play the demo of the PC version. But that's all changed and now I finally get to experience this forgotten piece of videogame history! I have to say, because of how impressive it was back then it maganes to still look good today. It's your standard 3D platformer for the most part but with a strong focus on light and shadow puzzles, many enemies are light and shadow based and your weapons and attacks are as well. The humor is a bit of a swing and a miss sometimes but mostly I like the cheesy story and cutscenes, it's like a reminder from a simpler time when all games didn't have to be Oscar winning movies. One problem so far is that it refuses to recognize my memory card having plenty of free space, probably because it's a third party memory card, so if I wanna save I'm gonna have to dig out an older 8mb Sony original memory card. And I don't think I have one with any free space left. Very annoying as I want to play more but can't as I'm forced to restart from the beginning every time.

Headhunter (PlayStation 2)
Has some problems loading the main menu, most likely due to some minor scratches on the disc, but once in-game it works fine. It really doesn't hold a candle to the original version on Dreamcast, gone are the crisp textures and detailed shadows, replaced with muddy low-res textures and simple blurry shadow blobs that seem taken directly from an early N64 game. It still plays the same, which isn't that great either as that means it doesn't use the second analog stick very well, instead of adding camera control (missing in the Dreamcast original as Dreamcast only has one analog stick) they just use it to cycle through items and weapons, in other words a total waste as that could've been done better in many other ways. As it stands Headhunter on PS2 is a disappointing port that leaves a lot to be desired. No wonder some people thought the Dreamcast had so much more to offer than PS2 back in the day when poor ports like this was part of their comparison.

Wreckless The Yakuza Mission (PlayStation 2 and GameCube)
I love Wreckless on Xbox, it's an arcade style mission based driving game with visuals that were jawbreaking at the time and still impress to this very day. Shortly after the Xbox exclusive version came out we got the two altered ports I've finally added to my collection after so many years. The ports seem to have been first ported to PS2 and then ported over to GameCube using the PS2 port as basis. I say this because the PS2 port is superior in just about every way and the GameCube port is more or less a poor copy & paste job. They share the exact same content but with more glitches and much uglier visuals on the GameCube. Neither versions compare to the Xbox original visually but at least the PS2 version still has quite a lot to offer, much thanks to the added content but also because it still looks and plays great in it's own right. Sadly some things are missing from the Xbox original, the missions with tanks are all gone, including the mission where you get to drive a tank yourself blowing stuff up, instead all cars now fire rockets and have a slow motion feature, this adds some variety to the gameplay but it's got very limited ammo so it's only something you can use sparingly unless you activate the cheats, so the gameplay still remains very much the same as it always did. The Xbox original didn't have cheats, just unlockable stuff, these ported version unlocks both cheats and other stuff, but again some Xbox stuff is missing, you can no longer mix the scenarios with vehicles from the other scenario or use different screen filters, instead they've added all the normal traffic vehicles and a whole list of brand new missions to be unlocked. There are also unlimited this and infinite that cheats for time, weapons etc. and even a get out and walk around and hijack other cars cheat, ultimately making the ports more like an open world vehicle combat game if you so please. Overall I like how the PS2 port is and I'm disappointed at the GameCube version. On GameCube it loads a little faster than it does on PS2 and it has better anti-aliasing, but with much uglier textures, visual glitches galore and special effects that are so poorly done you can't even see them properly it's easily the worst of the three. Additionally, in PAL regions the GameCube can be enabled 60hz playback with some games like Metroid Prime 2 Echoes and The Legend of Zelda Collection, which can then be used to prompt a question in other normally 50hz limited games if you wish to play them in 60hz as well. Well, turns out some select few games automatically override the question and force 50hz no matter what and Wreckless on GameCube just happens to be one of those games, as if it wasn't plagued with enough shortcomings already.

XGIII Extreme G - Extreme-G 3 (GameCube)
Speaking of select few games that force 50hz no matter what, here's another that does just that! Because of this it's basically identical to the PS2 version only with 4 player split-screen multiplayer instead of just 2. It even plays in NTSC50 with black borders on top and bottom, so not even PAL50 like other 50hz GameCube games do. So yeah, I already have the PS2 version since many years back so this version will probably never get played again. I guess if you don't have a PS2 this would've been fine but considering PS2 and Extreme G 3 on PS2 are both more common and cheaper to find and get hold of there really is no reason to ever bother with this version. Unless you're really desperate for that 4 player split-screen multiplayer there is no reason to ever buy this on GameCube and a waste of your time and money.

Shadow The Hedgehog (GameCube and Xbox (Xbox version played on Xbox 360))

Starsky & Hutch (Game Boy Advance)

V-Rally 3 (Game Boy Advance)

Tomb Raider The Prophecy (Game Boy Advance)

LEGO Drome Racers (Game Boy Advance)

Star X (Game Boy Advance)

B-Movie (PlayStation)

Star Ixiom (PlayStation)

Twisted Metal (PlayStation)
Decided to play this old classic a bit. Played as Roadkill and defeated Minion, it was a good playthrough. I still love this game the most of the entire series. Been thinking about maybe trying to get hold of the PS3 game but I'm on the fence about if it's worth the asking price, it doesn't seem that great to be honest and the extremely censored PAL version of Twisted Metal Black fiasco has never truly been forgiven despite the excellent Twisted Metal Head-On on PSP, the trust that was lost has simply not been regained.

Frogger (PlayStation)
I really like this game despite how unforgiving it is, it's a nostalgic classic I felt like playing again.

Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation and PlayStation version running on PSP)
Picked back up on my two newly started games. On PSX I'm just out of the Mythril Mine, having recently calmly walked across the soggy marshes and defeated the Midgar Solom with ease thatnks to some time being spent leveling up and getting some more practical Limit Breaks, before either visiting Fort Condor for the side mission or going directly to Junon (I'm heading for Fort Condor first, of course) and on PSP I'm outside Midgar, aquired Matra Magic and a whole bunch of Atomic Scissors that will later sell at a high price, just about to enter Kalm to do the first lengthy flashback.


UPDATE 1 - December 22nd

Asterix & Obelix XXL (Game Boy Advance)
As far as I know this is the only 3D platformer on the system. I've played a few other platformers with 3D visuals but they've been 2.5D type games, like that one atrocity based on Osmisis Jones... the less said about that game the better. This is instead something so rare as a not just competent but genuinely good 3D platformer on the Game Boy Advance. It uses the same impressive game engine that powers V-Rally 3, Stuntman and Driv3r on GBA so if you've played either of those you'll know the level of technical quality I'm talking about. As a game it's like most platformers, you play as either Asterix or Obelix, selecting between the two by pressing Select during gameplay, as you run around bashing romans, viking, greeks etc. doing some platforming, door unlocking and stuff on the side to advance through the levels, the usual repertoire. You get to buy upgrades like more health and new attack combos for the helmets you collect after defeating enemies and collecting throughout the levels. There are also some on-rail levels thrown into the mix to break the monotony. It's impressive to see a 3D platformer executed so well on the GBA and I've had a blast playing it so far. I'm currently about half way through the game and I'll definitely keep playing.

Warzone 2100 (PlayStation)
A 3D real-time strategy game where you get to design your own troops and control them each manually if you so wish. Sound too good to be true? Well, it's true, and what's even more impressive is that it's all done on good old PSX. I loved playing the demo of this back in the day and finally I have a copy of the full game to call my very own, and I gotta say it's every bit as great as I remembered it to be, maybe even better.

Crimson Skies - High Road To Revenge (Xbox (played on Xbox 360))
A flight sim arcade hybrid action game set in an alternate timeline where WWII wen't down a different path and old school propeller planes and zeppelin airships became the norm and the polar ice caps melted and covered earth with water or some Waterworld wannabe plot like that, I forgot to pay attention to the story as I took to the skies and started blasting everything in sight. It's a good game, looks great for an Xbox title and could easily pass as next gen in most regards. I like the way it plays, it reminds me a lot of other great games like WarHawk - The Red Mercury Missions on PlayStation, AquaNox and AquaNox 2 Revelation on PC and Yager, also on Xbox.

Race PRO (Xbox 360)
An Xbox 360 exclusive from 2009 that in my opinion does what the Forza series has failed to do all these years, it makes racing fun. Sure it lacks the size of a Forza game in sheer content and stuff to do like advanced car customization and a decal editor but it nails the driving and has some really welcome sound options where you can tweak what you want to hear and not better than any other game I know. I personally love the roar of the engine and can live without the sound of the clutch and gear changes, this game allows me to have the engine louder than anything else and the gears etc. turned off completely if I so wish, I don't take it to that extreme but it's nice to be able to tweak the sound experience in such detail for once, especially in a racing game. It didn't take long to get used to the driving physics in this game, they're very consistent and once I got the hang of one car the rest followed despite being wildly different in performance, it's all about how they handle within the game engine that does it for me, again something that games like Forza and Gran Turismo's never done right for me. It looks good too, the only real issue I have is the screen tearing, it's not so bad it ruins the game but it's one of the worse cases I've seen in an Xbox 360 game, nowhere near as bad as Alien Isolation or anything remotely close to that degree but for a racing game it's still notable. It's still a fun game, I like that you can really crash, with flips in the air and everything, unlike virtually all other sim racers that heavily restrict car damage and crashes or sometimes even remove it altogether this is most welcome. For once I'm even enjoying the carreer mode, something I rarely enjoy forcing myself though in racing games otherwise. This game had a lot of content available at the start too which was great as I love jumping into new racing games with Time Trials or other free racing modes just to get used to how the game handles as no two games handle quite the same, this game allowed me to do so without obstacles, only a select few high performance cars were locked away. There's even a split-screen mutliplayer mode with co-op and stuff in this game, I haven't seen luxury like that since the generation before it!

Sly Cooper - Thieves in Time (PlayStation 3)